Gravel washer



Dec. 26, 1961 F. D. CLAYTON GRAVEL WASHER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 15, 1960 III! III

WW MUM H il' INVENTOR- awflw 0. ea aw f mM/ Arrakdsv Uted States Patent 3,014,315 GRAVEL WASHER Franklin D. Clayton, Royal Oak, Mich. (3530 Noble Road, Oxford, Mich.) Filed Apr. 15, 1960, Ser. No. 22,595

1 Claim. (Cl. 51-164) This invention relates to a gravel washer and more particularly to a power rotated drum having an inlet and an outlet, means for supplying gravel thereinto and for tumbling and rotating and washing the same and for delivery of the washed gravel therefrom.

Various efforts have heretofore been made to provide commercially usable gravel Washers which will efficiently break down and separate thegravel from the mud and dirt. Prior devices have not been successful on a commercial scale because they lackthe means for eifectively combing, scrubbing and tumbling the wet gravel during the washing operation.

It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a novel form of gravel washer which is rotatable upon a longitudinal axis and which'incorporates upon its interior surface a series of rows of spaced gravel engaging baffles whereby upon rotation of the drum and the application of water thereinto there is provided an efiicient combing, scrubbing and tumbling action for a highly eflicient cleaning of the gravel and delivery from the gravel washer.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a novel mounting for the gravel washer and a novel power means for driving the same.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a special form of gravel washer drum, which is generally of a polygonal shape or round and which consists of a series of angularly related elongated plates with their longitudinal edges interconnected to form the drum body or cylinder together with means for mounting upon the said plates upon their interior and preferably adjacent the connection between the plates of a series of rows of baffle plates, the individual baffles of one row staggered with respect to the baffles of adjacent rows.

These and other objects will be seen from the following specification and claims in conjunction with the appended drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary side elevational view of the present gravel washer partially broken away and sectioned for illustration.

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary developed view of a portion of the interior surface of the gravel washer drum on an enlarged scale and illustrating the mounting of the baffles therein.

FIG. 3 is a section taken on line 33 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary schematic view illustrating the combing action of the bafiies upon the gravel.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary plan view of the gravel washer shown in FIG. 1.

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Referring to the drawings, the gravel washer drum, generally indicated at 11, FIG. 3, includes a series of elongated flat angularly related plates 12 which are secured together along their adjacent longitudinal edges as by the welds 13 to thus define the prefer-ably polygonal shape shown in FIG. 3, for illustration. It is understood, however, that the drum may be cylindrical.

As shown in FIG. 1, the drum has one end wall 14 having a series of spaced peripheral apertures 15 therethrough permitting the drain of dirty water or muddy Water, and has a central inlet opening 16. The opposite end of the drum is provided with a transverse end wall 17 centrally 'apertured to thereby define an outlet 18 through which is projected the cylindrical screen 19. Said screen includes an inner annular flange 20 secured to an interior portion of the wall 17 as by suitable fasteners 21.

A pair of longitudinally spaced annular sleeves 22, including radial annular flanges 23, are fixedly secured to exterior portions of the drum as by the Welds, 22' and 23' for cooperation with the driving wheels and supporting wheels 29 and 24 respectively, as hereafter described.

The power drive for the gravel washer drum includes in the preferred embodiment the pairs of rubber tired wheels 24 carried upon the driveshafts 26 within the hollow axle 25, therebeing a suitable transmission means or gearbox 27 by which the rotatable propeller shaft 28 elfects rotary movement of the respective driveshafts and wheels 24.

The spaced tires 24 are adapted to engage the respective sleeves 22 upon their one sides, as shown in FIGS. 1, 3 and 5, in cooperation with an additional pair of rubber tired wheels 29 upon the idler shaft 30. The second set of rubber tired wheels 29 engage opposite spaced I portions of the sleeves 22 to thus support the drum 11 for It will be understood that the above drawings illustrate merely a preferred embodiment of the invention, and that other embodiments are contemplated within the scope of the claim hereinafter set forth.

As will be pointed out hereafter, a novel feature of the present gravel washer resides in the polygonal shape of the drum and the staggered arrangement of the V- shaped battles which contribute to a more eflicient scrubbing action of the dirty gravel for washing the same and removing soft and semi-hard material. The same principal can be applied to a cylindrical drum.

Another novel feature is the method of supporting and driving the drum by the use of standard rubber-tired Wheels and axle assemblies. This mounting is subject to less wear and requires considerably less power to operate.

power rotation about its longitudinal axis. prevent endwise movement of the drum.

By using standard rubber tired'wheels and axle assemblies as above described, as a means for driving the drum, the end result is that there is considerable less wear upon the drum and the connected parts and considerably less power is required for driving the drum. Accordingly there is provided herein a very simplified means for mounting the drum 11 upon its longitudinal axis for supporting the same and for rotating the same by the transversely spaced pairs of rubber tired wheels which engage the respective sleeves 22 upon their opposite undersurface portions.

The secondary axle 3b which supports the pairs of longitudinally spaced rubber tired wheels 29 is provided with a suitable support means such as fragmentarily illustrated at 30' in FIG. 1.

For the purpose of introducing dirty gravel into the interior of the rotatable drum of the gravel washer there is provided a conventional type of hopper 31, which is normally filled with gravel indicated at G and which includes a longitudinally extending outlet 33 which loosely projects within the inlet opening 16 in the end Wall 14 of the drum. A water supply pipe 34 also projects longitudinally into the hopper for delivering water through the hopper outlet 3-3 in inlet opening '16 in the corresponding end wall for the purpose of supplying water in the desired quantity to the gravel as it rotates and moves and is scrubbed within the rotating drum.

An elongated drain collector 35 ofdesired shape is arranged below and adjacent the inlet end of said drum relative to the end wall apertures 15 for collecting dirty water which escapes from bottom portions of the drum during rotation. Collector 35 includes drain pipe 36 which at its opposite end is joined to a second drain collector 38 directly below cylindrical outlet screen 19 for collecting additional water as the gravel passes longi- Flanges 23 draining through the respective collectors 35 and 38 adjacent opposite ends of the drum.

It is noted also that the interior diameter of the outlet opening 18 is larger than the interior diameter of the inlet opening 16 with the result that gravel during rotation of the drum will gradually feed outwardly through the outlet 18 and the outlet cylindrical screen 19 for loading upon the continuously movable transversely arranged conveyor means 40.

As shown in FIG. 3, the drain collector pipe 36 is suitably mounted and secured at 37 to an undersurface portion or structure which is independent of the rotary action of the drum.

The present drum is capable of handling from 150 to 200 tons of gravel per hour, and has provided an efficient means of scrubbing and washing dirty gravel in a simplified mechanism of a highly efiicient character. The inlet opening is 18 inches in diameter and the discharge opening is 51 inches in diameter, for illustration. The gravel handled has an average diameter of approximately 1 /4 inches. However, the gravel can be smaller and may range up to 4 inches in diameter.

While in the preferred embodiment of the invention a series of mounting plates 42 are shown, it is contemplated that the bafiies '45 could be otherwise mounted and secured upon the interior surfaces of the drum, arranged in longitudinal rows in spaced relation, and with the baffies of one row staggered with respect to adjacent rows.

Having described my invention, reference should now be had to the following claim.

I claim:

In a gravel washer, an elongated horizontally disposed drum having apertured end walls defining an inlet and an outlet, power means rotatively supporting said drum for rotation on its longitudinal axis, a gravel hopper having an outlet projected into the drum inlet, a supply pipe for delivering water to the drum, and a series of longitudinally extending rows of spaced trough shaped bafiies arranged around the interior of the drum, with the baflles of one row longitudinally staggered with respect to the baffies of adjacent rows to define an efiicient combing, scrubbing and tumbling action of the wet gravel separating clay, dirt, loam, sandstone, slate or other forms of semi-hard materials from the gravel, said drum being polygonally shaped in cross section, and including a series of laterally interconnected angularly related plates, and a series of longitudinally extending mounting plates secured upon the interior of the drum, each plate bridging the longitudinal connection between pairs of adjacent drum defining plates, each plate fixedly mounting a row of bafiie plates.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Dec. 26, 1961 J. A. BARNHART 3,014,316

HAND SANDER Filed March 18, 1960 T Ii a? 4 3 INVENTOR. v/l/ 5950145 1?! 

